Studying migration @utaustinsoc & @UTPopCenter. Latin Americanist. Se habla espanglés.
Austin, TX
Joined January 2009
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Matthew Blanton retweeted
Powerful moment at my town hall with @AaronDFordNV in Las Vegas when this man spoke up and expressed the sentiment of millions of hardworking Latinos who are being persecuted by the Trump administration 👏💙
You had me at Kennedy impeached, no need to keep convincing!
Steve Bannon, quoted by CBS News, on if Democrats take control of the House.
“I think you’ll see Bobby Kennedy impeached, I’ll think you see Pete Hegseth impeached. I think you’ll see subpoenas flying every day. They will look to destroy President Trump, and we’ll be bogged down for two years.”
cbsnews.com/news/steve-banno…
Matthew Blanton retweeted
JUST IN: Anthropic reveals the Houthis used Claude to vibecode guided-missile software.
Matthew Blanton retweeted
Our government posts memes and videos mocking and laughing at the suffering of immigrants and refugees. This is one more sick sign that something has broken in our souls.
christianitytoday.com/2026/0…
Matthew Blanton retweeted
Video shows Flock walking police through how to monitor a No Kings protest in real time. I do not have to agree with a single sign at that protest to say this plainly: Surveillance aimed at your political opponents today will be aimed at you tomorrow.
Ruh roh. Here is a leaked webinar hosted by Flock demonstrating to police how to track individuals in real time involved in the no kings protests. Maybe you’re thinking “so what?! I don’t go to those and don’t agree with those who did.”
Let me remind you, a digital dragnet built to target your political opponents today will be used against you tomorrow.
Once the surveillance state is turned on, it watches everyone.
Matthew Blanton retweeted
I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. More thoughts below.
Matthew Blanton retweeted
The abuse the ex wife of the Maine ICE agent details in NPR interview is horrifying, including a 2022 police report of throwing his 13 year old daughter through a coffee table, a voice mail from last year saying her throat should be cut, and pulling a gun on her in the shower. She questions if ICE runs even a basic background check on recruits.
Matthew Blanton retweeted
Ronald Reagan: “You can go to live in France, but you cannot become a Frenchman…But Anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American…This, I believe, is one of the most important sources of America's greatness.”🇺🇸
Matthew Blanton retweeted
"[A] 'settler'—the euphemistic name for an immigrant who came over in the steerage of a sailing ship in the seventeenth century instead of the steerage of a steamer in the nineteenth century."
-Theodore Roosevelt
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we should not be afraid to say with confidence that America is not merely a creed or a proposition, but a people. And as for the founding, let’s have no more of this falsehood that we were “founded by immigrants.”
The English colonists did not cross the Atlantic to join a new people or assimilate into a new culture. They came to plant the culture of England on these shores, and that’s exactly what they did.
Matthew Blanton retweeted
Asking people whether they like "AI" is not going to be a useful poll question soon, if it ever was.
They will be incredibly grateful for their personal AI that guides them through medical or legal or management issues. They will be anxious or excited about AI at their work, even though it currently isn't that good, depending on the culture of their workplace. They will feel fondly towards the AI chatbot they discuss issues or ideas with. They will hate the AI that pundits (and a number of AI leaders) say will take all jobs or change their way of life. They will be bemused by the AI that makes up fun video content for them. They will fear the AI that other people argue will lead to the end of the world. They will like the AI that lets them edit cute selfies.
How does electricity poll?
New Research! My article in PRPR is the first systematic validation of CBP apprehensions as a proxy for undocumented migration in nearly 30 years, with evidence from Guatemala at both national and subnational levels. Spoiler: they still work. 🔓 link.springer.com/article/10…
Matthew Blanton retweeted
This paint job—if you can call it that—is costing you $7 million, America, because Trump gave a no-bid contract to a pal
This would have been Exhibit A of the sort of shit DOGE was actually *supposed* to be looking for when it was instead cutting lifesaving scientific research
